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EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK BELLRINGER 'WE BOUGHT A FARM!'

3-15-21

EXERIENCES OF PATRICK BELLRINGER 'WE BOUGHT A FARM!'

PATRICK H. BELLRINGER: Greetings again to all of you. Today's dressage shall be a bit different, because it is not all happy with roses.

We continued our farming crops and dairy business. We started in 1976 and continued to build every year. We had purchased 40 additional acres of which had not been planted for years. It took back-breaking work to remove tons of rocks, and then divide the land into strips to grow corn or hay and more garden vegetables. We separated the strips with grasses ad cherry trees between the rows. There was one lone tree in the middle of these 40 acres of which we used for a special picnic spot. We added a picnic table which I built, and a fireplace for cooking. It was private and a wonderful place we had with our children and Anne's Mother and Aunt.

We had two other different gardens and raised more veggiess on the east side of this 40 acres. We both taught school and ran a Shaklee business on the side. We did truck farming and sold some of our produce in Minneapolis. Then the changes began.

We had two gentlemen come to our house. They told us about the Farm Claims and a little of what was going on withe the U.S. Government under Bill Clinton. We did all the proper paper work and entered the Farm Claims programs. We had heard about a patriotic meeting in Shakopee and attended such. Then we heard about Roy Swasinger, who was giving meetings around the countyaboutthe fraud of the U.S.Governemnt. I was very interested, and it wasn't long when DG asked me to run them meeting in Shakopee. I did so. We also attended patriotic meetings in Minneapolis, Our eyes were opened to the fraud of our evil government.

Both of us remember the incident in Idaho and in Oklahoma. These were the begin of the false flag attacks on the people.

Anne and I prepared a booklet that we used as a guide to tell the people about the secret government and the Farm Claims. It wasn't long when the group grew large enough to hold meetingsat the Moose Lodge in Sakopee. I quit teaching, but Anne continent so we could keep our mortgage current.

With all the unknown costs we missed one mortgage payment. It wasn't long when we had to go to court to save the farm. We went before judge after judge and lost every time. Anne said she had never experienced such pressure and agony in all our married life. I felt the same.

We had joined the Farm Clams other Prosperity programs and had a host of people that, also joined under us.

I remember that we were milking the cows and it was 106 degrees outside and warmer in the quaset diary barn. The children were all gone at this time. We looked at each other and said, "Why are we doing this?" We sold the cattle but kept up the gardens. We were busier than ever traveling to Shakopee holding patriotic meetings.

The law was after us accusing us of all sorts of illegal things and called a meeting with lawyers, and higher-ups from the Minneapolis judicial department. We knew it was a set-up so we asked several of the people from our patriotic meetings to attend with their recorders. Needless to say, all those officials were nervous and scared to death. Nothing happened at that point, as we told them that all they wanted to now was all in the court dockets.

That did not change the drive they had to take our farm. It was a heavy snow day when the sheriff knocked on our door that fateful Feb 25 day in 1994. We were to be OUT and gone by noon that very day. We were able to convince them we needed up 5 p.m.

Can you imagine the flurry we went through to move not only the house goods but all the farm tools? What a mess!

We had sold all the tractors and turned in our biggest tractor, a 2040 John Deere, but the shop tools were another thing. Where were we to go?

We had several people help and with a moving truck and another truck a farmer lent us. They threw our stuff on the vehicles and drove clear up to Albany, MN. where a farmer friend lent us a big barn with dirt floor to place all our furniture.

They literally stacked everything in a huge pile from side to side and thew moth balls all over to keep the mice and other rodents from messing up the place. What a tangled utter pile. Our furniture was stacked on top of each other with some of it upside down. I have no words to describe other than it was almost impossible to find anything, as all was just thrown in haphazardly to get it out of the snow storm.

We were giving meetings in Shakopee as well as Albany, MN. with many people attending. It was at this time when we were approached by DG and SH to go to the East Coast and do the same.......

We were so grateful to our friends for their help especially AH for his barn and lodging for that first fateful night, and also DG for offering us a room at his home in Mankato where we could stay. We were homeless and lost everthing except one blue old office chair....

More to come.

STAY TUNED.......

PHB

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3-11-21

EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK BELLRINGER 'WE BOUGHT A FARM!' MARCH 11, 2021

PATRICK H. BELLRINGER: Our water tales were not yet stopped, as I relate the following escapade.

With the lumber from the huge dairy barn we took down, all nails, etc., were removed so the wood was ready to use for building our large cattle barn just south of the quanset dairy barn. We wanted a strong structure so we used the best wood we had taken from the dairy barn. That alone was a major job, as everyone help in any way they could. Cindy helped put up the rafters.

Along with that we had a company come and build a huge barn for hay storage across from the cattle barn.

Now the water escapade begins. We needed to have a water line dug from the existing water line at the quanset to continue to the cattle barn, the garden and the large shed in the equipment, work room of the newest hay barn that was built for us.

Let me start with the water line.

I watched them dig the line to make sure it was deep enough to resist frost, but what I called them on was the way they put in the water faucets. I was an old hand at this, as my father taught me well.

They dug the hole for the pipe and connected it correctly. However, I said:

"Wait a minute! You have to put pea-rock at the bottom of the pipe to make sure the soil does not erode and break the pipe flow."

"Yak ya," the man answered. "We know what we are doin".

They did the same for the pipe adjacent to the garden.

We were eating breakfast one morning when the doorbell rang. It was Mr. K., our neighbor, who said, "Patrick, it looks like you have a lake bed in your driveway!"

I knew exactly what had happened! There was a lake bed alright! I knew we had to repair their mistake! Sure enough, the ground had eroded under the pipe. No pea-rock was placed at the bottom of the pipe, as I had requested. So, we dug it up by hand and correct the problem.

The garden was another problem. The faucet had been cemented in at the ground level, but had no pea-rock at the bottom of the pipe. The leaking water had raised the cement up breaking that in pieces. What a mess!

It was later that we had that big hay barn built with a room for working with equipment, and a faucet placed for water.

Of course they had to dig the line from the cattle barn to the big shed and in the process of working with the bac -hoe they slammed into the opening door wrecking that! They did replace the door, but I told them that their water line connection was wrong, and they had to secure it better or it would leak.

Of course my words went unheard. Sure enough, it wasn't long when the fish could swim in the work room! This time I demanded they come back and redo the pipe tat was so poorly done. Again, I had to make sure that it was done right!

What a hassle!

I hoped nothing else would go wrong....but it did,,,,not with building or water lines, but the chicken incident was to come later.

I had hauled a shed from an old farm down Sioux Vista road north of our farm. We fixed it up with perching rafters for the 50 chick hens we bought to raise. We were all exited about having fresh eggs to eat!

Yes, we fed them alright and they got big and fat, as they were Minnesota Heavies. A few months later Jewel came to me and said,

"Daddy, the hens are crowing"!

You do know what THAT meant! The company had given us roosters! What did we do?

We took the 50 chickens and had them frozen to be given away to freinds and neighbors. They weighted 16 lbs. dressed.

More to come.....

Stay tuned.....

PATRICK H. BELLRINGER

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3-10-21

[NEW] EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK BELLRINGER 'WE BOUGHT A FARM!' MARCH 10, 2021

PATRICK BELLRINGER: Today's episode will make you shake your head at what we went through concerning our water system.

As I told you in one of the former farm articles, we poked the ground in the backyard for a week in order to find the opening pipe to the sewer tank, 18 feet underground.

We were sick and tired of having to put a hose out the basement window in order drain the washing machine in the adjacent wind-break. We had to hire a gentleman, who had to equipment. to drain the tank every so often. It was a "pain in the neck", so to speak.

Finally, we decided to have a drain field made so we did not have to worry about water drainage. We hired a company that was willing to do the job. They brought their big back-hoe and started digging down 18 feet in order to reach the tank to start a drain-field.

Wouldn't you know! WHAM! The bucket of the back hoe slammed into the top of the tank. I was concerned, as I was watching this whole process. I said: WHOA! You hit the tank, and I heard it crack!"

Answer: " Oh ya, but it aint gonna hurt nothin'. We will just cement the crack shut. It'll be ok. Don't worry....we got this.

I was not sure about that, as the weight of a huge tank full of water has a lot of pressure on that crack.

We never thought any more about that as the drain-field did work and we did not have to call the drain man for quite a while.

This was in the fall of the year, but as winter approached we had a good covering of snow on the ground. As we came back home from teaching school, we noticed a big black spot in the lawn. Everything was covered with snow so this black spot looked like it was about 3 feet across as we approached to see what it was.

Guess what! Yup, you guessed right . We had a huge hole 18 feet deep and about 3 feet wide. The tank had collapsed just as I said. Now we were in trouble. If one of the children fell in this hole it would be the end.

I called the company and they came fairly fast. They look down the huge hole and said:

"Well, we will have to put in another holding tank for you and connect that to this cracked one.

This did work for us, but we still had to watch the amount of water we used. What a pain!

Yes, what a mess! Now, our water adventure was not over because we had to have a water line dug from the quanset dairy barn to the new big cattle barn we built and the huge hay shed and tool room that we had a company built for us across from the cattle barn.

You are going to shake your head again........for the adventure continues. Then there was the agonizing time when the police knocked on our door.....

Stay tuned.....

PHB

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3-9-21

[NEW] EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK BELLRINGER 'WE BOUGHT A FARM!' MARCH 9, 2021

PATRICK H. BELLRINGER: I wanted to give the message again about judging wisely, but Creator Source and I agreed that he should give the message, as that was what he was to do on this day. We agreed to such. He wanted to mentioned my article about judging in his message. I was humbled that he wanted to do this, and agreed with his wishes.

I am going to relate here another experience that my family and I went through concerning the wood stove I installed in the basement of our Jordan home. I laugh with Anne and the children, as I relate this escapade, but at that time it was quite serious.

We were losing heat in the house with running the fireplace, as it drew the heat OUT instead of in the house. This caused the gas furnace to run more using up the gas quickly. Our gas bill soared beyond our meager budget. I had to do something immediately to solve this problem.

I purchased a well recommended wood stove an installed it in the basement. I used the present

chimney already installed. The following escapade was not any fault of this new stove, as it was how the fire place was built in the first place. I installed the stove correctly and followed the code of installing a wood stove. I made certain that I followed it correctly.

After using the stove for a short time, smoke began to back up into the basement. I climbed the roof with a chain and a chimney brush to clean the pipe of attached soot and coal dust.

The children or Anne would have to clean up the soot that would fall to the bottom of the pipe so they could shovel it off into a bucket. I had a terrible time trying to get the brush oh the end of the chain to reach the pipe entrance to the stove.

There was even one early morning when we heard a knock on the front door. The neighbor had driven by and saw huge flames coming out of the chimney. The soot in the pipe was burning! I ran downstairs and shut the flew off so as to contain the furnace fire. l was successful but not the answer to our problem. The children, and including Anne dreaded the of cleaning the soot up time after time, as it kept collecting in the chimney often. I finally called a chimney company to come to our aid.

An old fellow knocked on our door soon after our call. He marched into the basement and took a look at our stove.

"Well, Patrick, your pipe ain't no good!. Tell you what! Youse guys need a NEW chimney! You ain't gotta use this old one. I ain't any good. Here's what ya do, man. You just knock a hole here (he pointed to a place further over from the cement side wall) Jist dig here and make a hole into the wall and I will have my man come out tomorrow and put the chimney in for ya. No problem, man. No problem. I will have him call youse tomorrow morning to set a time when he can come". His name is Rick.(I gave that name but not his real name) The old man left, and we looked at each other wondering if he was right.

We all made the decision to knock a hole in the wall so the old chimney could be the connection to the new one to be placed in tomorrow. We were anxious, as it was November and the house was cold. We need heat, and we needed it now.

Well, who in the house could help me? I called upon my oldest daughter, Cindy. She was strong and was willing to help. She and I dug for hours at the cement wall. When we finally got to the old chimney all we could see was old paper smashed around it. The hole certainly was big enough to place another pipe somehow. Of course, Anne and the other children helped cleanup the terrible mess Cindy and I made that caused dust, cement and bits paper all over the place. I think we smashed and dug for at least three or four house of back breaking work.

We were all exhausted and tried to get some sleep. It was a cold old night, even for November. The next morning we waited anxiously for "Rick" to call, as that is what we were told. The phone did NOT ring. Finally about 10:30 a,m. Anne called the company. We got an answer from the guy running their office.

Anne: "When is Rick coming out to install our chimney?"

Answer: "Who did you say was to put in your new chimney?"

Anne: "Rick".

Answer: "Rick? Why, he doesn't fix chimneys. He's gone fishing! "

Anne hung up and turned to me with the great news. We were hooked, line and sinker into a lyer.

I was able to find a reputable person recommend to me, as the best in the business. He came out immediately.

"Who told you all this fal-de-wahl? Why, he's no chimney man! Do you know what MY business is? I follow around this guy and fix all his mistakes. Let me take a look at what you have here. You mean he told to knock a hole in your wall? "

In one glance and a couple of minuets he turned and spoke.

"I can't believe this. When they, or whoever, put this fireplace in must have been crazy. The chimney comes down, but it goes around the fireplace in a square across the top down the side and across the bottom. That's why you could not get a chain and brush to do the work when it had to got in a square to get to the bottom! I've never seen anything like it."

To make a long story short he re-did the fireplace in the garage so that the pipe would come straight down the new improved and insulated chimney he put in for us. It lasted as long as we lived there.

He took the old chimney out and laid it in pieces in the yard. How we ever used it to heat the house was a total miracle.

So, who had to re-cement the huge gap in the basement wall?

You guessed it. Always back breaking work.

We can laugh now, which we do now but at that time.......

Here is how we felt]

/resources/uploads/files/Soopy 1 1(2).mp4

/resources/uploads/files/Snoopy 2.mp4

/resources/uploads/files/snoopy 3.mp4

My next experience is coming......stay tuned.....

PATRICK H. BELLRINGER

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3-8-21

EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK BELLRINGER 'WE BOUGHT A FARM!' MARCH 8 , 2021

PATRICK H. BELLRINGER: Greetings again to all of you. The experiences that all of our family had while building a farm will continue to surprise you, for the following is another adventure that all of our family remembers vividly. May it bring laughter to you as it does to us at this point,but at the that time it was a disaster, but we won the battle. I am requesting that Anne give you some of this information, as well.

Here goes!

When we purchased the house we were all delighted to have a fireplace. It looked so cozy and homey that we could not wait to have a fire lit to sit around and enjoy each other's company. I cut wood from trees that needed to be cut down in the State Park and split the wood to use in the fireplace

There was a beautiful 12 X 12 wood mantle across the top on which we placed our treasured items, some of my turning wood to make the living room more homey.

We soon realized that the fireplace drew the heat OUT and provided very little heat for the house. None the less, we used it daily for esthetic comfort. I did mention to the family that we needed to make other arrangements, as heating the house with only a tank of gas was getting way too expensive.

ANNE: One weekend we decided to visit Patrick's parents on their Wisconsin farm. The children were all excited about traveling, so we packed our bags and went on our "vacation".

We had a huge log in the fireplace that was sitting on warm coals. We thought it would be just fine and to not try and take it out of the fireplace with dirt and smoke everywhere.

Did I say a relaxing time? No, not for Patrick, as he helped his father cut wood and do all the chores while there. I took care of the children, but, also helped with all the garden produce, one of which was to snap a bushel of green beans, help with dinner, and never had a moment to relax. Our "vacation" was a tiring one.

PATRICK: We came home. arriving after a day of hard work. As we approached our house, Cindy looked out the window ad said,"Daddy, did we leave a light on in the living room?" We were all stunned, as the light Cindy saw was a fire burning in our living room!

The coals lit the log and the fire was just coming out into the living room as it burned the mantle. Smoke was everywhere.

I called the fire deportment and they rushed to our call. They put the fire out in the living room spraying water everywhere. The entire living room and study were smoke filled with black soot. The firemen rushed into the garage dragging their hoses to put out the first burning back of the fireplace in the garage. Needless to say what followed was water, smoke and soot.

Then they went upstairs reading to chop holes in the wall in case the fire had reached that far. We were lucky in that he fire had not spread that far.

There was no one to help, no place to go, and with a house full of smoke, we all crowded into the main bedroom for the night. None of us slept very well.

ANNE: In the morning we examined the fireplace and discovered that when the owner built it, he had nothing but wood against the firebrick. The bricks got hot, of course, and the wood covering got hot and burned. It was constructed faultly, and a quick way to finish a fireplace absent of any safety . Had we not arrived home at that particular time, we would have lost the entire house.

We had to hire to have the fireplace rebuilt properly and to have the insurance provide a cleaner for the rest of the house that was smoke filled with layers of soot. What a mess. Their cleaning job was very poorly done, let me tell you!

After that, we seldom used the fireplace, as Patrick purchased a wood stove to be placed in the basement to heat jthe entire house.

PATRICK: That, my friends, is another adventurer you won't believe. I look back at that escapade and absolutely do laugh about it, but at the time it was serious. It was November and cold, and we needed to keep the house warm.

Stay tuned for that adventure..............

ANNE AND PATRICK BELLRINGER

3-6-21

EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK BELLRINGER 'WE BOUGHT A FARM! MARCH 6, 2021

PATRICK H. BELLRINGER: Greetings to all. Although we all aboard the ships are extremely busy, I will take some time to tell more of our farm experiences. I have asked Anne to correspond, as well, as we worked together our entire married life. In essence, we were "on the same page".

As I stated in the previous saga, the offer to take this huge dairy barn down was late summer, as the last crop of hay was cut. Of course, both of us were teaching school and milking 17 cows twice a day, gathering garden crops for canning and freezing and still running a Shaklee business.

Our day began at 3:30 a.m. We never complained to each other or anyone about this schedule. It had to be done, and done properly, as in milking one must keep a strict schedule of milking or the cows get upset and do not produce milk as well.

ANNE: You just don't walk in the dairy barn and slap a milker on the cow to milk. Patrick cleaned up behind the cows, put down fresh bedding and fed them. He turned on the gutter cleaner and swept the walk way. Always, we had to stand by the milk room in case the gutter overflowed into the milk room. That was a job in itself. It was m job to clean the milk room. The milk in the tank was picked up every other day, but none the less, the milkers all had to be scrubbed with a solution. It was the same with the tank after it was empty. You had to scrub every inch, as any trace of milk left would cause the next tank full to be contaminated. Believe you me, the company getting the milk tested everything.

One thing we had to watch was mastitis and infection of the cow, making the milk unfit to be consumed. If the cow would lick the water out of the drinking cup instead os normally drinking the water, the water could soak the bedding and she would end up with mastitis. We had to call a vet to get this infection cleared up asap, for it would take a day or maybe three days when we had to dump the milk. The Incredible cow had a problem. She would lick her water making everything wet.. and then lay in it. Patrick hung a rubber tubing over the drinking cup. She would have to push it out of the way to drink. Well, she ripped that off quickly and started licking the water like a cat. Then he filled a milk container full of rocks and hung it over over the drinking cup so she could not lick anymore. Guess what? He came into the barn to hear that licking sound again. The second cow stood there holding the container to one side while Incredible licked the water. Don't think for one minute that cows are not intelligent!

Or, what about the time the Incredible reached around with her head an turned on the water faucet Water was everywhere, filled the gutter and flooding the milk room. How nice to clean up at 3:30 a.m.

When all that was done it was my job to brush down every cow and wash the teats and entire udder.

PATRICK: As soon as she was done with a cow I would start milking with the milk machines. After all was done Anne stripped the cows for extra milk.

I want to add at this point that we taught each of our chldren how to milk and do everything we just told you. Anne and I did the morning milking and one of the chldren would help me in the evening while Anne got supper. All the chldren became a master at the milking business until they went away to college. Each of our chldren "worked their way through the dariy barn" so to speak.

We did not have a chance to work on taking taht huge diary barn down during th week, but the weekend was different.

You see how our day began, and now to the real work of that dairy barn.

I remember it was a beautiful sunny fall day. We all drove to the dairy barn to see what had to be done first.

The barn had two levels. We wanted to see the second level, so we climbed the ladder to see it. Our mouths dropped open, as we saw guess what?

The entire floor was covered about 2-3 feet with old, old hay that had been there for ages. Needless to say when we sepped on the hay the thick dust was tremendous. What did we do then?

ANNE: We had a couple of forks and pitched out one of the open windows. Then we loaded the old hay on our wagon, drove home with the tractor and forked the hay between the rows of shelter-belt trees we had planted west of the driveway. It took quite a few trips.

PATRICK: Then the real work began. Cindy and I roped ourselves to the cupolas and started in taking off the shingles. You have to start at the top and ram the square shovel under the shingles. They flew off to the ground in droves. Anne, Star, Jewel and Flint picked up every shingel and thew it on the wagon. You can't imagine the amount of shingles we piled at our farm. We used them to burn in the wood stove I had installed in the basement. That is another escapade!

ANNE: After the shingles were off Patrick and Cindy took the roof boards off one by one. They were careful not to break these nice boards , as we wanted to use them to build our big cattle barn on the farm! I distinctly remember taking 125 shingle nails out of each board they took off. We were not going to bring any board back to the farm wit nails in it like we did when we took that house down.

We worked every weekend...Saturday and Sunday all day to get this barn down board by board and clean each one up so it could be instantly used again.

PATRICK: Finally, as the weeks and months went by we had finally taken the dariy barn down. The only thing left were the stanchions with a 12 X 12 plank nailed to the top, It ran the full length of the barn.

I put a rope on one end to gently pull this huge plank over to the ground. Anne took a hold of the end and when gave the signal she would pull on the rope to tip the plank over to the ground.

I gave her the signal and she pulled the rope. I was standing near to make sure it came off ok, as it was nailed down.

As I looked up out of the corner of my eye I saw the entire plank come crashing down. I thought I was done-for and made one giant leap to the side. The plank crashed beside me, missing me by 2 inches. I thanked God I was still alive.

It took us 7 1/2 months to take down this barn. What did we do with all that lumber?

Stay tuned....

PATRICK AND ANNE BELLRINGER

P.S. HERE IS AGAIN A GOOD DESCRIPTION OF ALL OF US....

/resources/uploads/files/Soopy 1 1(2).mp4

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3-3-21

[NEW] EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK BELLRINGER 'WE BOUGHT A FARM! MARCH 3, 2021

ANNE: Today both Patrick and I shall continue our farm experiences. Today's saga will include other projects, as we worked on these at the same time as building that quanset into a dairy barn. Patrick continues......

PATRICK: Yesterday, we told you about the house that we took down in three days. Let me tell you that the lumber we brought back was filled with nails, and most of it were boards nailed together or bolted. We went to work and were able to have enough lumber to build the ramp about which I spoke. Then I started on a lawn shed and fence by the house. ...I will tell aout that later.

Here's the continuous tale of the dairy project.

We bought one cow we name Alfalfa. I have to tell you what happened when I brought the first milk can full of Alfalfa's milk to the house. I had it refrigerated and the cream was siphoned off to a certain degree, but not all of it.

I gathered the children and Anne around the kitchen table for a taste of Alfalfa' milk.

The children all looked glum wIth sad faces. They did NOT want to taste any milk other than what we purchased at the grocery store. You, see, we had visited my home farm and the cow's milk they were served was totally absent of any cream. It looked blue, and I admit it tasted horrid. Anne felt the same way. The children hated that milk, and were prepared for the worst with having to taste the milk from Alfalfa.

The reason we bought the cow is that we were purchasing six gallons at a time from the store. Well, here goes. I poured a glass of "store" milk and had the children taste it. They agreed. Then I poured each of them a small glass of Alfalfa's milk.

With a grim, sour face they all took a sip.

All of a sudden it was Jewel, who spoke first. "Daddy, this milk tastes just like store milk!"

That did it.

ANNE: I will never forget that time. Now I wanted to let you know the other projects we were working on at the same time.

The hay was ready to cut so we raked it, baled it and stacked it on the wagon, and took it to stack it in the field as close as we could to the quanset building . We did not have a big barn to keep the hay out of the rain. We covered the hay with tarps in case it rained. Invariably, we were awakened in the middle of the night with a lightening storm with a high wind. We rushed outside to the hay stack to see th tarp had blown off. We worked franticallyto get it back onthe hay and anchored it so the wind would not rip it off again. What a midnight hassle!

Letting a good bale of dry hay to get rain on it meant mold later on and sickness to any cow that would eat the hay.

Besides that, Patrick did the next thing.

PATRICK: I bought a second cow named Buttercup, . I figured when Alfalfa dried up with milk for 3 months we might as well have another cow.

We finally did get a tank and two milkers for the milk room, as we anticipated soon to add more cows to make fifteen that we milked, and to sell the milk to make some money.

Amid all this we taught school, planted a huge garden, and ran a Shaklee business.

We, also purchased another 40 acres adjacent to our 15 acres. We shall cover that project another time. All I can say about these 40 acres is that the soil good except for rocks and garbage.

I remember we were baling hay and were finishing up about 8 p.m, when the Park Ranger drove into our driveway back to where we were stackikng the hay.

He said: "I've seen people work, and work hard but you guys top them all. However, I have something to ask of you!"

I replied: "What is it?"

He said, "Well, I have this huge dariy barn on the park property where I live and it needs to be taken down. Are you interested?

ANNE: Guess what we said....YES! Here's the deal we made.

We had purchased three horses to ride. One, we named Commache, a quarter horse that was unbroken, but we wanted to keep him. We had a Morgan horse we name Shawnee but wanted to keep her.

Guess what? We had purchased an Arabian Mare we named Shalom, unbroken, so we traded her for $1.00 to the Park Ranger for the barn. She's the one who split my head open when we tried to tame her. (That's another story)

We drove to the ranger station and saw this huge barn with two cupolas on the top. Man, what a job. The Ranger spoke:"It has to be down by next May, for at that time, if it is still standing, I have to burn it." It was late summer, so guess what....

Whew! That, my friend is another tale to tell...

Stay tuned...

PATRICK AND ANNE BELLRINGER

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3-2-21

[NEW] EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK AND ANNE BELLRINGER 'WE BOUGHT A FARM! MARCH 2, 2021

PATRICK BELLRINGER: Greetings to all readers of our FARM experiences. Before I tell the saga of where we got the wood, I will finish a bit about the "diary barn" we completed. Well, not everything, but most of it.

I was my dream to have more than one cow to milk, but that is where we started....one cow. We named her Alfalfa. I wanted the milk room to be completed at some later date when we could afford all that was needed. Of course, we had water and had a sink plumed in the mIlk room. I wanted to put in a milk tank and get a coupled of milkers, but that had to wait.

As I said, I built a ramp for the barn chain to auger out the manure to the waiting wagon. Where did I get that wood?

ANNE: I did not realize what was to happen with getting more cows, but I was satisfied at just one. We did build 15 stalls for milking. So, from where did all that lumber come? Here goes that escapade of this next adventure.

PATRICK We liked to drive around the county to view everything. While driving west about three or so miles we came upon a lovely old abandoned farm with a beautiful white barn made of cement bricks. There was a nice house there, as well. We wondered who had lived there and was interested in the history of the place.

It wasn't long when we drove by the farm again. I was aghast, as that beautiful barn I commented about to Anne was burned to the ground. Only a few cement blocks were scattered about.

We had become friends with the Ranger, who was in charge of a State Park about 4 miles from us. He was at the old farm when we drove in.

I asked him what had happened and why he burned that beautiful barn to the ground.

He said: "I have been authorized to get rid of that farm. The barn had to be burned and the trash picked up,"

I said to him: "What about that house?

"It's going to be burned down at the first snow." he said.

I commented: "Can I take it down?"

"Nope! I have to burn it down. It would be too much liability for me if something would happen".

Then I asked him, "If I write you a note to the effect that I am responsible for any accident and not you, can I take the house down?

He replied, "Yes, but I am burning it down at the first snow. If you are not done by then it still gets burned down."

ANNE: I knew Patrick. He was a master at building at taking down buildings. Now, we had a house!

We were both teaching school at that time. I was a music teacher at Chaska, MN, and Patrick taught science at Edina. It had only been a day that we had made such agreement with the Ranger.

Well, it started to rain which turned to ice. My school closed early. On the way to Chaska Patrick had a terrible bloody nose. He drove back home ahd notified the school that he could not teachthat day.

As my school was closed because of the ice storm, I called Patrick to come and get me. He had stopped his bloody nose and was able to pick me up. As we drove back to the farm, he looked at me and said: "Shall we work on the old house? A little ice isn't going to hurt us!"

We had already taken Flint to the day school, and the girls were at school in Jordan.

You know that answer!

PATRICK: We donned our old clothes, including rain jackets, as well, and drove to the old house location. I drove the old John Deer A with a wagon and all equipment needed, including a ladder, and Anne came with the car.

We climbed the ladder to the roof, roped ourselves safely, and amidst the ice pellets we took the roof apart shingle by shingle.

In taking down a house you start at the roof. Take that first. Then I worked on the second floor. I took my chain saw and cut each corner to the first floor. I chained the side of the house to the tractor an pulled the side of that house down. Then I cut up the sides trying to save the best of the lumber.

Because we were strapped for time, we were not able to pull all the nails out,. but that could come later. We loaded the pieces that were usable on the wagon and the rest in a pile for burning.

The beautiful flooring was given away to a friend, who needed it.

I continued doing the same for the first floor. The house was down! This whole process took about three days. During that time the children where all there after school to help pile limber and pick up shingles.

You know exactly what happened. Yes, three days later, just as we finished piling the usable lumber on the wagon to take back to the farm, the snow started in. It wasn't long when the State Park Ranger came by to burn the house, because No ONE could ever take a house down that fast.

ANNE: You should have seen the look on his face. He was looking at Patrick the take-down house master. "I have never in my life seen anything like you, Patrick. You are amazing! I was ready to burn the place down. Now you made it very easy for me to burn the rest because you piled all the lumber not usable in the house pit. Great job!"

The story does not end there with other buildings waiting for the master-take-downer. That, my friends is another story, for the buildings got more, and BIGGER.

Stay tuned.......

PATRICK AND ANNE BELLRINGER.....

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3-1-21

[NEW] EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK BELLRINGER 'WE BOUGHT A FARM! - MARCH 1, 2021

ANNE: We left you hanging, didn't we? The saga continues. This time I am asking Patrick to tell this experience about the gutter chain.

PATRICK: Thank you Anne. I shall continue this next adventure or should I say struggle. As both Anne and I and our children look back upon this experience, we laugh about it now, but back then it look like an impossible job, and it was so.

In order to know the entire situation, we all piled in the car and drove down the road to the old barn to see for ourselves the true situation. As we drove up to the barn through the tall weeds and grass, we got out of the car and went into the barn.

What did we see? We saw the a mess, and I say mess! You could not even see the gutter for the entire floor was covered with dirt, old straw, manure and pieces of broken lumber. The children all groaned, but I was confident we could be successful in taking out the chain.

We drove home and came back with the tractor and flat bed wagon that we bought. Of course when we purchased this piece of junk I replaced all the planks and made it usable. Getting the planks is another experience I shall relate later on. We brought the mall, push broom, rakes, shovels, and wheelbarrow to start the unbelievable job. It took a while even to clean the floor for nothing had been cleaned for years, and I mean years .

Then the real work began. As you know, a gutter has to be deep enough to hold the chain, as well as all the manure and straw from the cattle. I would say it was about 1 1/2 feet deep. That meant the cement was thick and hard. However, I started in with the maul breaking it up in pieces. Cindy used the maul for a while, but it was too hard to keep it up for more than a few minutes. Our little Star tried to use the maul but the cement was too hard. Anne tried the maul, too but with no success.

I am an old hand with a maul for I split tons of wood with my father.

Then trouble began. I whacked away for several feel while everyone lifted the cement pieces out of the gutter. I kept going until I had cleared 10 feet. I hooked a heavy chain from tractor (John Deere A) and the other end to the barn chain.

Did the barn chain come loose? NO. It would not budge. I checked the barn chain and found the couplet to unhook the 10 ft piece.

Still the John Deere A could not pull it out. I drove back home with Anne and got our other tractor a John Deere B, came back and chained in in front the the A. With both tractors run by Cindy and Star the piece of barn chain came loose.

After several hours of back breaking work we got the chain out in pieces, and loaded on the flat bed. Was that the end of this adventure?

No. We had to put every piece of broken cement back into the gutter, sweep the floor again and then cement the gutter shut to where it was in the first place.

With all the family help we got the chain put together and in our new gutter just built. I had to build a ramp from the floor to the window so the chain could be high enough to clean the gutter. I had the wagon out side to catch the manure and used all of it to put on the garden and around the trees.

Trees? Yes, Trees. That is another adventure we shall relate later. I guess I would say that all this was like slave labor, but we were a family and we worked together. These memories will never be forgotten.

Where did I get the wood to build the planks to the wagon and the ramp for the chain? It came from a _____ that I, with he help of all the family........

The adventure continues....

PATRICK H. BELLRINGER

[Here is how we felt]

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2-27-21

[NEW] PART 4: EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK BELLRINGER "WE BOUGHT A FARM! - FEBRUARY 27, 2021

PATRICK AND ANNE BELLRINGER: We shall continue with our experiences on our farm.

PATRICK: Actually, the proper title to this new series should be be "WE CREATED A FARM". Why do I say that? Because there were no farm buildings that are usually included when you buy a farm. Most farms we know do not have one open ended quanset, and a broken down, small, partially empty corn crib. Guess what was eating the corn left? You guessed it! Rats and mice!

The former owner must have had a horse or two, as the quanset was packed with old straw and manure that had hot be cleaned for I don't know how long.That cleaning of the quanset was our next back-breaking project, for it was like digging up hard clay soil after no use for 50 years. Anne' s back started giving her trouble.....guess why?

After the barn was fairly clean the next big project was...

ANNE: Building the ends of the quanset with wide doors. Patrick, a master builder, showed our family what to do, so we all pitched in to get it done. Of course there were no windows, either.

Patrick hired a person from Belle Plaine to come and do the job, assuring to us that he knew what he was doing.

Are you kidding? We were gone, and when we arrived to see the handiwork Patrick was dumb- struck. He told the young man kindly to go home after which Patrick torn out what was the worst window job he had ever seen. The quanset is curved but the windows this young man put in looked like something else. Needless to say, Patrick put in all the windows.

So, what was next?

PATRICK: I wanted to make the quanset into a milking parlor with stanchions on one side and calf stalls on the other. The north part of the building would be the milk room with sink , etc.

We hired a cement company to pour the floor giving them directions exactly as we stated. The cement stalls had to be made, so any manure, etc. from the cows would drain to the gutter. The walk-way was to be the same.

They complied up to one point. I was discusted because they did not do as I told them.They made the walkway level, so we spent the next 16 years sweeping it clean as nothing would drain off to the gutter.

The next big project was to get the milking stalls bolted in place that we had to order from Wisconsin. I made the trip with Cindy and it was a long hard drive. We had hired professionals to install the stanchions , but they did not show up in time.as they promised.

ANNE: Isn't that always the case? Well, Patrick, Cindy and Star started putting them in place uhtil the hired workers finally showed up. The water pipes, faucets and electric lines were put in when the cement was poured.

The next step of this project was the electric line which our hired person dug fro the house to the quanset barn. As I remember, he started it near the tool shed near the house that Patrick had built. Patrick hollered at him to stop. He walked over to him and said: "Do NOT dig right here." He pointed to a place on the ground. "This is where the line goes to the house." He pointed to a place in the ground and said: "You have to connect the wires from this point so don't break the line to the house!"

Well guess what? He promptly slammed the bucket right where Patrick told him not to dig and you know what happened. He broke the line to the house. We had no electricity in the house! Well, he dug down about 2 or 3 feet to the quanset barn, hooked up the house wire and the quanset wire so both would have electricity.

Wouldn't you know! Nothing worked. No lights in the house yet and no lights in the quanset barn.

"Oh that's alright", he said. " I got a guy with a Geiger Counter that can tell you where the break is at in the line. Simple!"

Ya, right. Simple is not the word. It is called simpleton. The guy came with his great Geiger Counter. He pointed at a spot in the line and said, "Yup! Here' the break!"

PATRICK: Cindy and I dug and dug. Nope! the line was secure at that point.

Would you believe that this guy pointed at a dozen places with his Geirger Counter, and by the time they finally found the broken line at the doorway of the quanset barn, they had dug the whole line up! What an imbecile.

Then the next adventure began. We had to have a gutter chain put in to clean the gutter every day. We talked to a friend of ours, Burdette, and he said,"Patrick, I have a gutter chain you can have for free!"

ANNE: Ya, free, alright. Burdette said: "It's in that old barn about a mile down Sioux Vista road." That road was across the highway from our home. We were overjoyed, as a gutter chain can cost hundreds of dollars. Boy were we in luck!

Yup, luck alright. Burdette looked at Patrick and said....."Well, the chain is in that barn gutter that has been cemented over."

What!?

Stay tuned.......

PATRICK AND ANNE BELLRINGER

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2-25-21

EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK BELLRINGER "WE BOUGHT A FARM! - FEBRUARY 25, 2021

ANNE AND PATRICK BELLRINGER: Greetings to all readers of Fourwinds.

ANNE: After some consideration, both Patrick and I thought it would be interesting to tell of the experiences, adventures, saga, and whatever you can call it, as both of us will pen these adventures of our 16 year farm life. By that I do mean adventures, for as you read what we are to write about the years of farming, we hope you will enjoy what we have to say. As we look back at what adventures we had, we laugh about it. At the time it happened, that was not always the case.

Do any of you remember the movie entitled: "We Bought a Zoo!"?

Well, we titled this saga as "We Bought a Farm!" Where do we start? I think Patrick should start this wonderful adventure you are about to read.

PATRICK: As you know, I was raised on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. I loved the out-of-doors and worked hard with my father at every turn. I learned to run a dairy farm, plant alfalfa, corn, bail hay and such, and learned fast not only how to drive all the farm equipment but repair it, as well. He taught me how to build farm buildings and do repair work, as well. He, also, taught me to always take care of all tools, and equipment and put back everything in its place. That is how I was raised.

I have been on several farms where this was not the case, and you wouldn't believe the mess of tools ,machinery, oil, dirt and rubbish that told me what kind of person lived on this farm.

To make a long story shor,t at this point of all the adventures we had in the past made several moves living coast to coast. You can read more at this link. http://fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/bellringers_corner/anne_bellringer/news.php?q=1596465315

Both Anne and I wanted to have some land rather than being couped up in a small house with a tiny backyard. I longed for a place where we could farm, have our own milk cow, and have a beautiful spot for a large garden. We prayed for such, and our prayers were answered.

ANNE: Yes, we found a property near Jordan, MN, that seemed so ideal. It was a newer house with 4 bedrooms and what we thought fitted our needs. We had four children at this time and needed a larger home. There were, also, 15 addtional acres listed in the contract.

As we looked at the house and land, we were sold on it immediately. In spite of the fact that there were no trees and the large yard had not been mowed from whenever, we made a deal of $65,000. That was in 1976, and we were staggered at the amount of money to buy this property, but we were determined. At that time both of us were teaching school I was teaching at Chaska, MN and Patrick taught at Edina, MN. With both of our salaries we could manage the mortgage of this property.

On the 15 acres of land there was a long quanset barn open at both ends with a dirt floor. There was an old broken down corn crib across the driveway. Weeds were two feet high all over, but we were very happy at moving in.

PATRICK: After moving in we surveyed what work we would do first. You guessed it! We mowed the yard. I should say field, because at this point the yard consisted of alfalfa and sand burrs. We hauled in black dirt in the back yard and planted grass seed.

Then the fun began.

Anne started washing clothes in the washer and dryer located in the basement. There were two large areas in the basement, one was a shop area if you could call it that with a place for laundry, and the other was a larger family room, with nothing but a cement floor.

Than the fun began. As Anne was washing clothes, the water did not drain properly, and it began flowing all over the basement floor. Why was that? Well, the drain was higher than the floor around it so the water flowed out on the floor. Still, the water would not go down the drain.

When we were buying the property we asked the realtor where the holding tank was located for the property. He pointed in several places and said it's here, no here, oh, over here.

I asked him where the drain field was located. He said "There ain't no drain field. But you have an adequate tank. It has to be drained occasionally, but you ain't gonna have no problem!"

ANNE: Ya, right! We had a problem. We had laid a huge load of black dirt over the weed patch in the back yard, and it had rained. We took a rod and started poking the soggy muddy ground already planted with grass seed to find the pipe to the tank. After a week of what seemed like 5000 pokes, we finally found it 18 inches below the surface.

What did we so to solve this problem? That is another adventure! We started by putting........ .....................

Stay tuned as you "ain't heard nutten yet!"

Here is a drawing Anne made of the"farm house"

ANNE AND PATRICK BELLRINGER

2-22-21

[NEW] PART 4: EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK BELLRINGER - SEMINARY EXPERIENCES - FEBRUARY 22, 2021

ANNE: Today I shall continue an experience Patrick had while attending the United Methodist School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri.

The school was one that taught classes for minmisterial student to experience real life situations. They had a classes/programs that were initiated for the first time in the history of the school. I already told to you of the experience Patrick had to endure was to be a bum on the streets of Kansas City for two days with only a dime in his shoe.

I did not mention the reason for the dime. It was for an extreme emergency call if the experience came to that point. With the Grace of God, Patrick did not have to make that call.

This next experience will blow your mind. The school initiated a program to have the ministerial studentS experience what it feels like to be a criminal locked up in a penitentiary for a serious crime. By that I mean solitary confinement.

As you probably know, that facility for hardened criminals is located in Kansas. It's called Leavenworth Penitentiary. The school made special arrangements with the administrator of this prison to let the school send several ministerial students to be locked up as a hardened criminals. No guards or other personnel were to be notified of these "special ministers" to be admitted to prison, and were to be treated as hardened criminals.

This experiment was to last two days, a Friday and a Saturday.

Patrick and the others involved in this were taken to Leavenworth and admitted as dangerous criminals. They were stripped of all their clothes and personal belongings and donned with prison garb.

Patrick said he was in handcuffed with his hands behind his back and jerked around to be placed in the most secure area called solitary confinement. The guards did not hesitate to treat him roughly, and threw him in the solitary room where he almost fell on the floor. They had removed his cuffs before they shut him behind three locked doors. There was a peep hole for the guards to observe his behavior at all times. They checked on him every hour of the day and night.

Patrick described the room to me later. It was small, probably 10 by 10 feet. The ceiling was very high with a very small window at the top of one side. There was a cot with one rough blanket, a bathroom stool with no lid, a very small sink with cold water, a wash cloth. a small rough towel and a couple of tiny bars of soap. There was barely any room for any kind of exercise.

They fed him like they did in the movie, "The Count of Monty Crisco". They brought him a tin plate with edges and pushed it through a special opening in the bottom of the last door. The tin plate had edges so as not to spill the food. What was the food like? Patrick was not sure of what he tried to eat, as it tasted badly. He looked for insects but did not find any. There was a tin cup with some kind of juice or water. His expression to me was Yuk! There was a old tin spoon provided or eating, but no knife or fork.

If he wanted to drink more water he could use the cup and pour water from the small sink.

There was a light bulb shining in the ceiling that was never turned off so he could not tell what time it was expect if the window at the top had light shining through it.

The cot was small, uncomfortable and the rough blanket provided very little warmth. Indeed it was almost unendurable, but Patrick stood strong. The only comforting thought was that he was to be in this cell for two days. He thought about those ones placed in such a situation for a long time.

There was one redeeming factor. He was let out for a short time in the yard to get some sunshine or exercise, but he had to be very careful, as other criminals were also, there.

One of these prisoners asked him what it did to get in prison and where his cell was located. Patrick answered that he was in solitary confinement, but declined to explain what he did to get there.

The guards watched everyone closely as they did not want any scuffles between prisoners. The 30 minutes passed quickly, and Patrick was ushered back to his solitary confinement cell.

He felt the horror, the loneliness and the rejection feeling that so many prisoners felt. He spent a lot of time remembering Bible verses and prayed a lot.

I remind you that this experience happened long before he found the Journals. This was in the year around 1966, and he (we) did not wake up to Truth until 1994.

When the time finally ended for him to be released, as ordered by the administrate, he said you could not believe the relief of walking out into the beautiful sun and be FREE. It felt to him as if he were confined in solitary for a year, as time passed so slowly.

I was worried about him in prison, and was so relieved to see him walk through the door. Both of us realized how fortunate we were to have a home, even if there were snakes, brown recluse spiders, mice, rats and cockroaches we had to watch for in our parsonage. It did not matter, as we were together as twin flames and our children were healthy and loving. We had the riches of the world, not in things but in love and family. That is all that matters.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, for it does take a look at the darkness in the world to appreciate the LIGHT.

Stay tuned....

ANNE************

[NEW] PART 4: EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK BELLRINGER - SEMINARY EXPERIENCES - FEBRUARY 22, 2021

ANNE: Today I shall continue an experience Patrick had while attending the United Methodist School of Theology in Kansans City, Missouri.

The school was one that taught classes in virtual reality to their ministerial students. They had a couple of classes/programs that were initiated for the first time in the history of the school. I already told to you of the experience Patrick had to endure was to be a bum on the streets of Kansas City for two days with only a dime in his shoe.

I did not mention the reason for the dime. It was for an extreme emergency call if the experience came to that point. With the Grace of God., Patrick did not have to make that call.

This next experience will blow your mind. The school initiated a virtual program to have the ministerial studentS experience what it feels like to be a criminal locked up in a penitentiary for a serious crime. By that I mean solitary confinement.

This experimenter was to last two days, a Friday and a Saturday.

Patrick and the others involved in this were taken to Leavenworth and admitted as dangerous criminals. They were stripped of all their clothes and personal belongings and donned with prison garb.

Patrick described the room to me later. It was small, probably 10 by 10 feet. The ceiling was very high with a very small window at the top. There was a cot with one rough blanket, a bathroom stool with no lid, a very small sink with cold water, a wash cloth and small rough towel and a couple of tiny bars of soap. There was barely any room for any kind of exercise.

If he wanted to drink more water he could use the cup and pour water from the small sink.

There was a light bulb shining in the ceiling that was never turned off so he could not tell what time it was expect if the window at the top had light shining through it.

There was one redeeming factor. He was let out for a short time in the yard to get some sunshine or exercise, but he had to be very careful as other criminals were there, as well.

One of these prisoners asked him what it did to get in prison and where his cell was located. Patrick answered that he was in solitary confinement but declined to explain what he did to get there.

The guards watched everyone closely as they did not want any scuffles between prisoners. The 30 minutes passed quickly, and Patrick was ushered back to his solitary confinement cell.

He felt the horror, the loneliness and the rejection feeling that so many prisoners felt. He spent a lot of time remembering Bible verses and prayed a lot.

I remind you that this experience happened long before he found the Journals. This was in the year around 1966, and he (we) did not wake up to Truth until 1994.

I was worried about him in prison and was so relieved to see him walk into the door. Both of us realized how fortunate we were to have a home, even if there were snakes, brown recluse spiders, mice, rats and cockroaches we had to watch for in our parsonage. It did not matter, as we were together as twin flames and our children were healthy and loving. We had the riches of the world, not in things but in love and family. That is all that matters.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, for it does take a look at the darkness in the world to appreciate the LIGHT.

Stay tuned....

ANNE

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2-20-21

[NEW] PART 4: EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK BELLRINGER - SEMINARY EXPERIENCES - FEBRUARY 20, 2021

ANNE: Today's experince I shall tell about Patrick, has a serious side. The other experiences I have written were humerous at times, but today's writing shall be a bit different.

As you know, Patrick attend the Methodist School of Theology in Kansan City, Missouri for two years. The requirement to obtain a a Master's Degree in Religious Education was was a four-year course. Because Patrick had already taken some of the required classes he crammed the 4-year degree into two years.

There were several unusual classes which were required. These classes were a forerunner in religious education that no other seminaries before had ever required.

In most big cities there are areas taht are labeled "skid-row". These areas were filled with homeless people, called bums, who lived from hand to mouth begging for food, slept in doorways and on in cardboard boxes strewn here and there. The seminary wanted their ministerial students to experience such an experience and how it feels to be a bum on skid-row.

Patrick said he was given a tattered suit to wear, a dime in his shoe and was to go down to skid-row and make his way for two days. He went with another seminary student Here is what transpired. They parted ways and were to meet at a certain destination before nightfall.

He felt the loneliness and the total rejection of the people, as he walked down the streets. They avoided even touching him, and looked at him with scorn. He tried begging, but with little effect. He was pushed aside if he got too close to anyone. The looks of scorn hit him hard.

He did meet a bum that told him where he could get a meal. This bum said :"You ain't gonna git nothin' from people because you look terrible. You ain' t had a shave and your clothes are ratty. Go to the goodwill and they got suits that are given away. First come with me and get sumthunin your belly."

Patrick said he went with this bum to the place where they served a hot meal. Hot, you say? What the meal really was contained a slice of crusty old bread, very little butter and a bowel of soup that Patrick thought looked and tasted like something rotten. He gave the bread to the man who took him to this place and after a spoonful of the tasteless soup, he gave that to the bum, as well.

He felt the hunger and total rejection experienced by these poor people and how the public treated them. Had he done the same when he was "on the other side"? He thought long and hard about that situation.

There was no place to sleep, either. He and the other seminary student met and tried to sleep in the railroad station out of the cold. They were kicked out. He spent the night on the street or tried to sit in a doorway out of the wind. No one wanted to see them anywhere. He experienced that terrible feeling.

He tried to get another suit to wear, as the bum said he would get a better handout if he looked better. That failed, as well.

Two days for Patrick was like two years. He felt the despair the rejection, the total isolation and starvation of those poor bums.

At the end of this experience they met someone from the seminary that took them back to the school where Patrick got in his car and came home to Amsterdam, where we lived.

I was so relieved to see Patrick again, and could not believe how bad he looked when he walked in the door. With tears in his eyes and in mine, we thanked God for all that we had. We were not rich, but we had each other and our children. We felt the great love that was missing for Patrick for two days, and graditude for all that we had even if we were poor.

Lessons of gratitude were learned.

Stay tuned....there's more......

ANNE

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2-19-21

PART 4: EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK BELLRINGER - "THE CORN RUN" - FEBRUARY 25, 2021

ANNE: I just have to tell you this experience Patrick and his younger brother, M. had at one time.

On this particular occasion, Patrick was asked by his father to load up the flatbed to his car and go get some whole corn for the cattle. The corn they had planted for cattle feed was almost gone, so they had to buy 50 lb. bags from the elevator some miles away.

This is the kind of car Patrick owned.

Image result for Old FAshioned Ford Car

Patrick did so and told M, to come with him to help load the flatbed. The started off taking the Rush River winding gravel road rather than the highway, as that would be a dangerous trip going too slow for the traffic.

The gravel road was well kept and safe to travel. There were, however, some hills on the way, as that was the way the land laid. If there was a steep hill the road followed the land and the hill was not dug out in order to put in the road.

The chugged along to their destination, loaded the corn on the flatbed and started for home. The old Ford had a load to pull and Patrick could tell by the way the engine roared, as he approached a hill. It was a slower drive due to the heavy weight on the flatbed.

They came to the steep hill Patrick was worried about, and just did get to the top. As Patrick drove down the hill, he shifted gears to slow the old Ford and kept his foot on the brake. However, the weight of the loaded flat bed was too much for the old Ford to handle. It was unable for Patrick to hold back the speed, as the car gained more speed by the second. Patrick knew there was a sharp turn at the bottom of the hill, and they would never make the turn. Most likely they would flip the old Ford, tip the flatbed ad whisk all the corn in the muddy wet ditch.

He yelled at his brother. "We are not going to make it!" Patrick knew the lay of the land and remembered a corn field just to the left of the road before the turn. With all his might he turned the old car into the corn field which was all mud and plowed his way around back to the road. It looked like a big bull-dozer just paved its way though the tall corn which was left all torn up and buried ih the mud.

They arrived home and said not one word about their experience.

Some days later his grandfather and grandmother came to dinner. (on his mother's side) His grandfather was ticked and mad! "Some fool tore up my corn field and just wrecked it! Who in the world would do something like that? It had to be some dumb kid!"

Patrick and his brother sat there and said not a word. He never ever told his parents he was the guilty one. At any rate, if he had not turned when he did there would be no corn, no car....and himself and his brother.

I suppose it was not until his grandfather died did he find out it was his grandson...the moment of Truth.

.....ANNE

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2-18-21

[NEW] PART 4: EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK and ANNE. BELLRINGER - FISHING!- FEBRUARY 18, 2021

ANNE: Greetings to all who read this message. Today I am departing from the experiences Patrick had in all his educational years to write about one of my favorite experiences that not only involves Patrick, but my dad, mother, aunt and grandma.

As you probably have read in Fourwinds, my father was a Circuit Court Judge. For relaxation he loved fishing. I would have to wade in the muddy dark creek down by Lake Hanson among the weeds and rock to seine for the only bait he used...minnows.

We fished in several different places, mainly northern South Dakota. For some reason the fish liked my scent, so I was the one to bait the hooks. I was the one who caught most of the fish, or when Patrick was with us I baited his hook for him. That's how he caught the fish!

wHEN MYy sister, Carol got married she and her husband chose to go to northern Minnesota to Lake Vermilion for their honeymoon. They came back with loads of Wall-eyed and Northern Pike they had caught and had frozen. They described how beautiful the resort was and that Lake Vermilion was covered with islands. You had to be careful when you took a boat to fish, as it would be easy to get lost among the islands that looked exactly alike.

It didn't take my dad long to plan a fishing trip, with my mom, aunt, and grandma and me to you know where--Lake Vermillion! We loaded all in his caddie and started on our great adventure. When we arrived, we had a lovely cabin in which to stay. The only bad thing was the news from the resort owner that the fish were not biting. No one had caught anything for days.

My dad was not discouraged, but after a couple of days with no luck, he decided to fish off the dock rather than take a boat. I was with him sitting on the edge of the dock with my pole in the water watching all the millions of minnows that had just hatched. It was incredible. No wonder the fish were not biting, not with thousands of minnows swimming around. My dad, as usual, had three poles in the water and was sitting on the end of the dock....no luck!

As I gazed at the minnows, I saw a big Northern Pike swishing around catching his dinner. All of a sudden this big fish flew out of the water in pursuit of his meal. Did he get his meal? No, I got our meal! What, you say? Yup, he flew out of the water to land on the dock right beside me. Yes, I caught a huge fish, not with a fishing pole but with my hands!

That was the ONLY fish we caught while at Lake Vermillion!

This is NOT the end of the story!

When Patrick and I were married we took our honeymoon to.....guess where? Lake Vermilion!

We arrived in the evening, as it was a long drive from South Dakota. We slept in late and meandered down to the dock to rent a boat and motor.

The resort owner said to us that fishing was the poorest he had seen for years. No one had caught a thing for days. He was discouraged and said to us that we should have been fishing early in the morning, rather than at high noon. "You ain't gonna find any fish biting anywhere!"

Besides that, he was trying to instruct Patrick how to run the motor and warned us not to have two inexperienced people get lost.

Little did he know that Patrick was a master at running a motor boat and was a keen observer of checking landmarks so we would hot get lost. Remember? He was a forester and worked in Alaska and a master at land marks, boat motors, etc.

We started off at dead noon. Patrick said: "See that island over there? Let's start there." I was the one fishing and he ran the motor slowly for towing. We had a ball. My dad said long ago to use a Prescott Spinner. You probably know what happened.

Finally, Patrick thought we had better head back, as it was getting dark. As we approached the main dock, there were many people there looking and looking for that lost couple that had probably drowned or gotten lost among the hundreds of islands.

They made a sigh of relief when they saw us coming back.

"Ya probably did catch anything. We told ya!" They were mistaken because, as we got out of the boat Patrick reached over the side of the boat and hauled up a stringer of big Wall-eyed Pike.

The excitement started. What did you use for bait? Tell us! We told them we used a Prescott Spinner.

The next morning we got up lazy again and sauntered down to the dock. Everyone was standing around. When we took off, we noticed they all followed us. We found an island again to fish and looked around at all the boats that had followed us to this very spot.

We ( meaning me) caught another huge stringer full. To our observation no one around us that followed us caught anything.

Hope you enjoyed this twist in my writings about Patrick. I will add that we bought a bigger boat used in the ocean. Patrick re-did the whole thing, seats and all, an made the transom higher. With two 35 Johnson motors we had a ball with the boat, taking our children on many adventures to fish.

SALU for now.

ANNE

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[NEW] PART 4: EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK H. BELLRINGER - COLLEGE DAYS--THE STRUGGLE - FEBRUARY 17, 2021

ANNE: The struggle that Patrick had in getting his education at the University of Minnesota shall continue for today.

Before I start this next experience, I shall mention what Patrick told me time and time again. He would dream about college and attending classes, except he either lost his books or he could not find the classroom to which he was to attend for a certain class.

He would dream that the time to get to the next class what not enough to search where the next building was located.

Well, those dreams were real in a sense, as he had to get to the next class in a different building way across campus, so he had to almost run there to get on time.

I recall him telling me, though, about a Chemistry Class he was required to take. Of course, his advisor would help him with his required schedule. The Chemistry class he was to attend was set up and he arrived to the classroom in time.

As he sat in his desk, he turned to talk to the fellow to his right. "What major are you studying at this time?" The fellow answered, "Medical Doctor". Patrick began to feel queezy. He asked the student at his left the same question.

Yup, you guessed it! "I am studying to be a medical doctor."

It was then that Patrick realized he was in a very advanced class of medical students, and their courses where much more difficult and involved that the regular chemistry taught to one going into education, such as Patrick.

He tried to get reassigned from his advisor but all the educational classes in chemistry where filled.

Well, the experience began. There was a required 4 hour lab that was held of which Patrick had to attend. On this particular day the students were to "pie-pet" chemicals that were extremely dangerous.

He had never done such in a lab before but he was trying to get it done properly. All the other "doctor students" where whizzing through these experiments, as if they had done it a million times, which they probably had.

Here was Patrick trying to get the experiments correct when the teacher approached him. "Bellringer, what is your major?," he demanded.

Patrick looked up and said "Education". The teacher answered , "What in the world are you doing in THIS class? It's for doctors, not education students!"

Patrick explained that he tried to get into the proper class, but his advisor stuck him in this advanced medical class, and all the other classes were filled. The professor shook his head in disbelief. Well, he said: "You will just have to make it in here and it's going to be tough, young man!

Patrick said he never studied so hard in his life.

We lived in a small house in Minneapolis with a basement, Patrick went down there and memorized all the chemical equations by making a lyric of words. He said he passed the class with an average grade.

He remembers taking the test and with his memory of the lyrics he got the questions correct. After class a student would approach him and ask, "What did you have for question 7?

Patrick answered, "What question was that?" You see it was just memory work and not real learning and when the test was over,Patrick put it out of his mind.

The trouble with higher education in some cases is that it is memory work to repeat what the professor wanted. It was not real learning where you asked questions and had a dialogue with the teacher.

That, my friends, is how Patrick taught his classes, and the students learned! It was not just rote memory.

Hope you enjoyed this experience of Patrick's. Many of you readers probably have had the same experience.

SALU for now.

Stay tuned.............

ANNE

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2-16-21

[NEW] PART 4: EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK H. BELLRINGER -COLLEGE DAYS--THE STRUGGLE- FEBRUARY 16, 2020

ANNE: There have been several colleges and Universities that Patrick has attended in his long search for the Truth. There have been some difficult classes, but some actually were a surprise to him.

As you know from the biography I wrote about Patrick, he taught Science Education and Physics for 18 years in two different schools.

He had already obtained a degree in Forestry Management, a Master's Degree in Theology from New York Biblical Seminary and another Master's degree from the Methodist School of Theology in Kansas City, Mo.

Patrick spent several years in the Methodist ministry in South Dakota and Washington State. I already told you one of his great experiences was the one about Revolution.

After all these experiences and degrees, Patrick was still not satisfied, as he had not found that for which he was searching. He left the ministry and decided to be a teacher.

You have probably read several of his articles about Christianity, and If you have not done so, it would be wise, as it would give you the answer of why he left the ministry.

Now I am going to add one about his experiences at the University of Minnesota where he obtained a degree in Science Education. When he started his classes there he had hundreds of college and graduate credits.

When he talked to his advisor he was told what classes he needed to take in order to complete the degree. One particular class was on in Education. Patrick explained to his advisor that he had taken that very class before, and even showed him on his transcript the class. Did the Advisor listen? Absolutely not. He told Patrick he had to take this particular class.

So, guess what? Patrick took the class. The teacher was a younger person, as many of the teachers were graduate students, who were given a class to teach. As I remember, this particular teacher was a graduate student.

Patrick knew everything she was teaching even before she taught it to the class who were in their 2nd or 3rd year of education at the University. Patrick was the oldest in the class, and would be called upon if no one knew the answer to the teacher's questions.

The teacher wondered about this older student. Why was he in her class? Well, the culmination came one day a few days after the class had begun.

Patrick heard her lecture and knew exactly what the next day's class was to be. He came early to class and re-arranged the desks in a circle. The other students said nothing, but just came in the classroom and sat down at a desk.

The teacher came into the room and was completely taken back. She was going to surprise the students by re-arranging the desk, but it had already been done. She taught the class and after the hour was over she asked Patrick to stay and talk.

"Why are you taking this class? Did you arrange these desks?" she said. Patrick replied, "Yes, I did so. I have had this class before but my advisor insisted that I take it."

"Well, you do not belong in my class. I am giving you a grade of A. You have completed this class and do not have to come back again." Patrick took the document from her and left. He was relieved he did not have to waste his time attending a class he did not need to take.

This is just one experience, and there are more so...

Stay tuned....

ANNE

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2-15-21

[NEW] PART 4: EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK H. BELLRINGER -COLLEGE DAYS--THE STRUGGLE- FEBRUARY 15, 2020

ANNE: Patrick has asked me to pen some of the experiences he had during his collage career. I say career, as he obtain 500 college and graduate credits over a period of time.

He especially wanted me to tell of some of the experiences he had attending the University of Utah at Logan, Utah.

Patrick was one of the top students in high school After high school graduation he took a job at Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing--along with a cast on his left leg.

What, you say? Patrick, his younger brother M., and a friend loved tobogganing. On this particular excursion going down a steep hill covered with brush, his brother let go of Patrick's left leg, When tobogganing with two or more people the person in front must hold up the legs of the person behind when two of more persons are on the toboggan. In this case there were three on board. Patrick was the third person and his brother, M. was hold his legs. Guess what happened. M. let go of Patrick's left leg.

Patrick's leg, now loose, struck a brush stump which broke it including protrudingn bones.

With that accident and total leg cast, he still worked at MM and M propping his leg up with the crutch lodged in the desk drawer.

In the fall of the next year when his younger brother graduated from high school, they attended Bethal College. He paid the entire bill for both of them.

At the end of the semester he decided to go to River Falls College, MN. leaving M.to continue at Bethal.

During this time he decided he wanted to be a forester, and picked one of the best which was the University of Utah at Logan, Utah. He still had some money saved up, and with $20.00 from his father he started off.

It was a struggle to keep enough money to attend, but he managed to get several jobs to help pay the way. Let me tell you that forestry classes were demanding and extremely difficult, but he was determined.

He lived with two Mormon students in an apartment. He challenged their beliefs even then, as he was raised a Christian. I wish I could have heard those discussions, for he had them so confused about Mormonism, it was unbelievable.

He worked as a janitor at the Presbyterian Church which demanded much of his week-end time. I do not know how he did it, but he paid his way....every dime.

Now I want to tell you about just ONE class. This is how he told it to me.

He had to have Organic Chemistry, but the class he wanted did not fit in his schedule. Besides there were too many students, as the required class was full. The school solved the problem for all the left-out students, and hired an outside person to teach the class.

The University hired a scientist from Thiokol Inc. to teach the class. The company worked on space shuttles, etc. Patrick and his roommate Buzz attended this class.

The teacher walked in, greeted the students and then turned to the blackboard. He started writing the formulas and information on the board as fast as he could. He covered the entire board from top to bottom and the side movable blackboard, as well.

The students stared at the black boards and tried their best to copy the formulas and information, struggling to understand what he had written like a mad man.

He turned around and said.."Any questions?" No one spoke. How could they? They were overwhelmed at all he had written, and it was impossible to copy down all the information he had written in the time he gave the to do so.

"OK" he said. With that he grabbed a very long eraser and wiped the boards clean as a whistle. The class couldn't believe it.

Thanh he proceeded to cover the entire blackboards again, and again for a third time. I think he thought he was teaching all genius students, which was not the case.

Patrick and his roommate were totally floored, and I am sure that all of the students felt the same. In a couple of days or so this "professor" gave a test to the students.

When he brought the test results back to the class, he was rather down in spirits. Not one student passed the test. After that he was slower at giving information, as he realized the students were not all brilliant genious peope such as he, but it was still a great struggle for all the students.

Patrick and his roommate agreed that each day one would copy the board formulas and the other would follow the Organic Science book, and take notes from what he said while furiously writing on the blackboard. They would get together after class in the evening and try to decipher the information. Patrick said he did pass the class but with a lower grade.

This scientist was NOT a teacher, and belonged to the elite ones working on space shuttles, as that is where he was in the first place.

When the classes were over in the spring, Patrick went to to the Black Hills and worked as a forester on the Custer District marking timber and fighting fire, but he, also, had a job at a gas station. I often wonder when he slept or ate. He said he lived on sandwiches and chocolate milk, and had rented a room at a home owned by an old lady.

WHEW! What a struggle.

Stay tuned................

ANNE

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2-13-21

ANNE: today I shell tell you another incident that demonstrates the great character of Patrick. I told you before that when the situation calls for it, he would confront the trouble with a BANG!

This incident took place on the school bus.

Patrick had purchased a Ford car to drive to school later on in high school; however, as a freshman, he rode the school bus, along with his sister M. They always sat in the front seat behind the driver.

Patrick took a class in Agriculture at the high school. One of the assignments required bottles of samples. Patrick had carefully prepared everything. Since he had a lot of books to carry he placed them on the bus seat next to his sister. He returned back to the school room to bring his carefully prepared exhibit of samples back to the bus. He did not want the risk of spilling or breaking them as it had snowed and the ground was slippery and sloppy wet.

This boy, Butch, as I will call him, was a bully and a big brat. He was heavier and taller than Patrick and other students on the bus. He always sat behind Patrick and M. and was constantly pulling M's hair or ripping her scarf off. She told him to stop but he kept on laughing and doing it over and over.

This day was going to be a different one.

HERE GOES:

As Patrick approached the bus, he saw Butch take all his books and papers and toss them down the muddy wet bus isle. The papers flew out all covered with water and mud.

Butch said, as he threw the school supplies down the isle, "I wonder whose junk this is!"

Patrick was seething mad. As he approached the steps of the bus, he saw his books being thrown in the isle. He had his exhibit and samples in his hands. As he stepped further to get on the bus, Butch grabbed the poles of the bus in front and with a great force lifted his feet up and slammed Patrick in the chest.

Patrick flew backwards and his samples crashed to the ground with everything scattered, wet and broken glass everywhere.

So what did Patrick do? Butch stood in the isle laughing and poking fun at this kid, who was smaller and did not weigh as must as over-weight Butch.

Patirick got on the bus quietly and without any indication of being mad, he turned sideways and with his right arm extended he swung with a mighty force and hit Butch under the chin.

The force of Patrick's arm hitting Butch was fascistic. Butch was totaly surprised as he flew back over the seat to crash down in the next row. He was sobbing and crying.

Patrick never said a word. He just sat down by his sister, and heard to sobs of Butch.

Never again did this bully mess with Patrick or his sister. The students laughed at Butch, and also had picked up all of Patrick's school supplies and tried to brush off the mud and dirt.

SO, that is Patrick's great character.

Stay tuned for the next time.

ANNE

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2-12-21

ANNE: This experience took place when Patrick was a freshman at the Ellsworth High School in Ellsworth. Wisconsin. Back in the 1950's it was not considered "cool" to wear bib overalls to school, as annyone, who wore them. was considered a "hick from the sticks". Patrick's older brother M. took one day of ridicule about his outdated bib overalls he wore to school.

He promptly cut the bib off and wore "half pants" that caused his mother to go into a rage. You know who followed his example! Patrick! However, their mother not do anything about it, as all their bib overalls were fixed the same way and the cut-off bibs were disposed. It would cost too much to have them all replaced with the traditional bibs.

You must understand that Patrick's mother was a staunch died-in-the-wool Christian, who followed literally all of Saul/Paul's writing in the New Testament of the Bible.

This meant women did not wear men's clothing i.e., jeans, etc. Women were NOT to cut their hair and should keep their head covered in public. The list went on and on.

However, Patrick still was greeted in high school as the "hick-from-the-sticks".

As a freshman in high school, he weighed about 120 lbs, and was of medium height. He was not a loud and aggressive person, but was well aware of how others thought of little old farm kids.

One of his first classes was Physical Education in the big gymnasium. Patrick was already tired before school began. He had to get up early, do the farm chores and milk cows. This takes time and work. Now he had to stand in line and be prepared to show his strength and stamina for the teacher/coach of this physical education He was bored to tears.

The teacher had a thick rope hanging from the 30 foot ceiling. He lined up all the boys and one by one they were to climb the rope to the top. Each boy tried to climb up the rope but could not even lift themselves off the floor. They all failed. Patrick looked at the rope a and shook his head. How many times had he climbed the rope to the barn loft to pitch hay to the cattle? Or how many times did he do it just for fun to get away from this younger brother, who chased him many times to beat him up?

Well, there was one kid in line, who had to do the same thing that everyone else could not do. This kid grabbed the rope ad climbed the rope to the top in about a minute. He slid down the rope to the floor with all eyes upon him.

The coach said.."OK! Let's see if you can climb the rope with just your arms. The boy did so to the top surprising the coach and all the other students. He again lowered himself to the floor with great ease.

"You did a good job. What is your name again?"

You guessed it, as the boy replied "Patrick", The coach turned to the rest of the class and said: "This is what I expect of all of you! Good job, Patrick."

Patrick had earned the respect of these students.

I have more to tell about his other classes especially --- one about Bully-BUTCH

Stay tuned.

ANNE

PART 4: EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK H. BELLRINGER SCHOOL DAYS--FEBRUARY 12, 2020

ANNE: This experience took place when Patrick was a freshman at the Ellsworth High School in Ellsworth. Wisconsin. Back in the 9050's it was not considered "cool" to wear bib overalls to school, as annyoe, who wore them. was considered a" hick from the sticks. Patrick's older brother M. took one day of ridicule about his outdated bib overalls he wore to school.

He promptly cut the bib off and wore "half pants" that caused his mother to go into a rage. You know who followed his example! Patrick! However, their mother not do anything about it, as all their bib overalls were fixed the same way and the cut-off bibs were disposed of. It would cost too much to have them all replaced with the traditional bibs.

You must understand that Patrick's mother was a staunch died-in-the-wool Christian, who followed literally all of Saul/Paul/s writing in the New Testament of the Bible.

This meant women did not wear men's clothing i.e., jeans, etc. Women were NOT to cut their hair and should keep their head covered in public. The list went on and on.

Patrick still was greeted in high school as the hick-from-the-sticks'

As a freshman in high school he weighed about 120 lbs, and was of medium height. He was not a loud and aggressive person, but was well aware of how others thought of little old farm kids.

One of his first classes was Physical Education in the big gymnasium. . Patrick was already tired before school began. He had to get up early, do the farm chores and milk cows. This takes time and work. Now he had to stand in line and be prepared to show his strength and stamina for the teacher/coach of this physical education He was bored to tears.

The coach said.."OK! Let's see if you can climb hjis rope with just your arms. The boy did so to the top surprising the coach and all the other students. He again lowered himself to the floor with great ease.

"You did a good job. What is your name again?"

You guessed it, as the boy replied "Patrick" The coach turned to the rest of the class and said: ""This is what I expect of all of you!. Good job, Patrick."

Patrick had earned the respect of these students

I have more to tell about his other classes and one called Butch.....

Stay tuned.

ANNE

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2-11-21

PART 4: EXPERIENCES OF PATRICK H. BELLRINGER -EARLY SCHOOL DAYS THE WILLOW TREE- FEBRUARY 11, 2020

ANNE: This is a great experience Patrick had when he attended the on-room school. He was an excellent student and never disrupted the classes in any manner.

He was, also, the one to confront an unfair situation that would occur and try and make it right.

This incident happened concerning a willow tree, if you can believe it.

The school was located a mile from his farm home. There was enough land for the children to run and play ball. There was, however, one very large willow tree that many of the children climbed every day for years. Patrick was one of them, and could climb like a monkey to the very top of the tree. Hardly anyone could climb that far, but not Patrick!

There was no problem with the teacher concerning climbing the willow tree until.....

You guessed it! A new teacher had been hired for the year. She lad down certain rules everyone was to obey without question. There was to be no talking during any class period by anyone unless the teacher gave permission. They were to keep their desk jneat and clean. No one was to move out of their desk unless they asked permission.

The children all knew this before with other teachers and had obeyed all these "rules" that were never written or spoken.

This teacher made the rule of rules that disturbed Patrick. She demanded that no one could climb the willow tree outside, as she was not going to be responsible for any injury that might occur.

Patrick was disturbed by her edict. He had climbed the tree many times as had other students and there was never any injury.

It was not long before Patrick made his move. He climbed to the highest part of the tree during recess time. When he climbed the forbidden tree some students said: "Patrick. the teacher will catch you! You are going to get it! You better get down before she sees you." That did not phase Patrick. When the bell rang to return to class the teacher noticed right away that Patrick was not at his desk.

The teacher demanded of the class: "Where is Patrick?" No one responded. She asked again and no one revealed what they knew.

She stomped outside to see where her lost student was hiding. Finally she saw him at the top of the willow tree. "Patrick, you come down immediately!"

"You com up and get me!" was the answer she heard.

With a loud voice she again shouted: :"I said to come down, now!

Again she heard Patrick: "You come up and get me!"

The teacher was furious and told Patrick, "I am going to tell your father how disobedient you are!!!" With that said she turned around and stomped back to the classroom.

Patrick stayed in the tree a bit longer and then went back to class. Not another word was spoken about the tree.

Sure rough, she came to the family farm and told Patrick's father how disobedient Patrick was and that he had broken her rule about not to climb that willow tree. He refused to come down! He needed to be punished for this drastic misbehavior.

She left. Patrick's father understood the whole situation. He turned to Patrick and said,. "Patrick, I guess you had better not climb the tree anymore". That is all he said. Patrick obeyed his father, and to this day he still is the one to confront that which is unfair.

He and his friend David, where the top students in that school. He earned the respect of that teacher, as well.

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2-9-21

ANNE: Patrick attended a one-room country school for the first 8 years of his education. I would surmise that most of you readers would not be familiar with this kind of education. Of course the senior citizens like me (!!) would remember and education such as this!

Back in the 1940's when Patrick attended school there were no school buses to transport the country children to any town school. There was a one-room school house 1 mile from the farm where Patrick lived.

His day started early, as chores came first....check the chickens, feed the cattle, clean around the stanchions where the cattle were contained ready for milking, and then milk the cows by hand. No miking machines were even heard of back in those days! Then it was a rush to eat breakfast, gather all school supplies and walk a mile to school. He walked in rain, snow, cold or hot weather, as it did not matter. After school it was a rush to get home and help with milking and complete the daily chores. After supper if there was any minute left, he would try to study if he had homework.

A one-room school was education for all 8 grades by one teacher. The subjects were basic, and they learned! There was no discipline problem either! The subjects were English (Reading), Math, Social Studies (History) Science and Spelling, Art was taught periodically, but not every day.

As I said before, Patrick was held back by his mother to start school at age 7 rather than age 6. He wanted to learn, so he studied the books that his older sister, M., would bring home. By the time he entered school he already knew most of the 1st grade materiel. First grade was a breeze.

The teacher would start with a subject, such as Reading(English) and teach each grade for a short time. Patrick would quickly complete any assignments for first grade and then pay attention to the lessons to learn as a 2nd grader. That was how he learned from each grade she taught. He was a top student, along with his friend, David.

He remembers one teacher, and I believe the name was Miss Richie. She was an excellent teacher, especially in English, as Patrick learned correct grammar, spelling, writing and composition. You know that already by all the writings he did for Fourwinds.

Did he ever have a class in physical education? Are you kidding? Recess time was physical education for Patrick. He had a younger brother, who was bigger and continually chased Patrick the entire recess time in order to beat him up. Patrick was tough and ran like a deer. His brother never caught him. Later on I shall tell you the time of conflict with his brother that was quite serious.

Patrick was the kind of person that if something was very wrong he would be the one to confront the situation and clear it up. The following incident is one of them.

One day a Mother brought her son to school. ( I will call him Benny) This was very unusual to have a mother bring a child to school holding his hand.. This little boy was a spoiled brat. His mother gave him whatever he wanted or desired. If he didn't get what he wanted he would whine and cry and throw a fit.

This kind of bringing up was the way he acted at recess time. He whined and cried until all the children played what HE wanted. If they refused he would scream and cry until they gave in. It wasn't long until all the children were totally sick of this kid. It was then that Patrick took charge.

He walked over to the cry-baby, and took him by the arms, laid him on the ground and sat on him holding his arms so he could not move. The boy started to cry. Patrick looked at him and said: "Look! You are going to stop making us play YOUR games ALL the time by screaming and cryihg uhtil you get your way! You will behave and stop This nonsense. We are NOT your mommiek=, who gives you anything you want! We are not going to put up with your childish behavior any more. We will play your games sometimes, but you will play OUR games, too. Yoy will act normal and not be a cry-baby!"

The boy still cried. Patrick said "When you stop your whining and crying I will let you go. You must promise to do as I said. Got that?" Benny mumbled that he would do what he was told. Patrick let the boy go. He got up and ran down the road to mommie and home.

All the other children were standing around agreeing with what Patrick was doing. The bell rang for them to return to class. They were seated and quiet. The teacher noticed the empty desk of Benny." Where is Benny?" No one said a word. One student looked out the window.

"Oh, there he is! He is running down the road!" The teacher ran out of the school and started after Benny yelling and yelling but he just kept going. She came back to the school house all hot and flustered to demand what happened. No one said a word.

Guess, who was a perfect student when he returned to school?

I have more to tell about the willow tree.....

Until next time...

ANNE

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ANNE: Patrick attend a one-room country school for the first 8 years of his education. I would surmise that most of you readers would not be familiarwith this kind of education. Of course the senior citizens like me (!!) would remember and education such as this.

Back in the 1940's when Patrick attended school there were no school buses to transport the county children to any town school. There was a one room school house 1 mile from the farm where Patrick lived.

His day started early, as chores came first. Gather the eggs, feed the cattle, clean around the stanstions where the cattle were contained ready for milking. Then milk the cows by hand. No miling machines were even heard of back in those days! Then it was a rush to eat breakfast, gather all school supplies and walk a mile to school. He walked in rain, snow, cold or hot it did not matter. Then after school it was a rush to get home and help with milking and complete the daily chores. Aftwe supper if there was any minute left, he would try to study if he had homework.

A one-room school was education for all 8 grades by one teacher. The subjects were basic, and they learned! There was no discpline problem either! The subjects were English (Reading), Math, Social Studies (History) Science and Spelling, Art was taught periodically, but not every day.

As I said before, Patrick was held back by his mother to start school at age 7 rather than age 6, He wanted to learn so he studied the books that his older sisterm M. would bring home. By the time he entered school he already knew most of the 1st grade materiel. First grade was a breeze.

He remembers one teacher, and I believe the name was Miss Richie. She was an excellent teacherk espeically in English, as Patrick learned correct grammer, spelling, writing and compositon. You inow that already by all the writings he did for Fourwinds.

Did he ever have a class in physical education? Are you kidding? Recess time was physical eduation for Patrick. He had a younger brother, who was bigger and continually chased Patrick the ehtire recess time in order to beat him up. Patrick was tough and ran like a deer. His brother never caught him. Later on I shall tell you the time of conflict with his brother that was serious.

Patrick was the kind of person that if something was very wrong he would be the one to confront the situation and clear it up. The follwing incident is one of them.

One day a Mother brought her son to school. ( I will call hi Benny) This was very unusual. This little boy was a spoiled brat. . His mother gave him whatever he wanted or desired. If he didn't get what he wanted he would whine and cry and throw a fit.

This kind of bringing up was the way he acted at recess time. He whined ahd cried until all the children played what HE wanted. If they refused he would scream and cry until they gave in. It wasn't long until all the chldren were totally sick of this kid. It was then that Patrick took charge.

He walked over to the cry-baby, and took him by the arms, laid him oh the ground and sat on him holding his arms so he could not move. The boy started to cry. Patrick looked at him and said. "Look! You are going to stop making us of play YOUR games ALL the time! You will behave and stop your whining and crying. We are not going to put up with your childish behavior any more. We will play your games sometimes, but you will play OUR games.

All the other childrenwere standing around agreeing with what Patrick was doing. The bell rang for them to returh to class. They were seated and quiet. The teacher noticed the empty desk of Benny. Where is Benny? No one said a word. One student looked out the window.

"Ohk there he is! He is running down the road!" The teacher ran out of the school and started after Benny yelling ahd yellinb but he just kept going. She came back to the school house all hot ahd botherd to demand what happehed. No one said a word.

Guess who was a perfect student wheh he returned to school?

I have more to tell about the wiillow tree.....

2-8-21

ANNE: Today I am beginning a "new chapter" of life experiences of Patrick H. Bellringer. Patrick asked me to pen them starting as a young boy, and go chronologically in experiences, as he got older. So here goes:

As a young child, Patrick lived with his older brother and sisters, his mother a father and grandfather on a farm near Pepin, Wisconsin. This farm and all the building were built by hand by his grandfather. Clarence, Patrick's father. helped build the farm including the house. All of Clarence's family lived with the grandfather at this farm.

Tension grew between the grandfather and Patrick's father. Patrick's father did not get along well with his father, and the 4 children had to be like little mice not making any sound and to live as if they were not seen nor heard. His mother had to do all the cooking, cleaning and was really like a maid.

It was in 1938, as I remember, when Patrick was 4 years old that his father bought a farm some distance away near Ellsworth, Wisconsin. It was a very difficult move, as his father had to haul by wagon all the farm supplies and equipment to the farm. Patrick, even at age 4 had to help with the move. The move included the mild cow that were his father's along with had and feed.The farm was 120 acres of land, but was covered with thick Canadian thistle. Patrick said the thistles towered above him.

Not only that, but the people that were living in the house refused to move. They were evicted, but they disobeyed the orders and refused to leave. Patrick's father, Mother and the 4 children were cramped in the small living room trying to survive. As I recall, the sheriff had to come and physically remove the people living illegally in the house.

Even at the age of 4 Patrick helped with the farm work. He said he had to help chop down the tall thistle so they could plow the land for crops. He helped with chores and started helping with the milking of the milk cows by hand. He tossed hay from the loft, cleaned stalls, took care of the many chickens and did all he could to help without any complaint.

He remembers the terrible storm of Nov. 11, 1940. It is known as the worst blizzard to hit Wisconsin. He said that day was sunny and warm, but all of a sudden the wind started up and the cold air swished in quickly. The horses, used for plowing came running to the barn but had to stop and roll to remove the ice and snow that even clogged their nostrils. Patrick said the barn still had open windows so he helped his father take cardboard to close them up so the cattle would not freeze.

Patrick said the drifts of snow towered 20 feet high and several feet of snow on the ground with winds 60 mph along with 20+ degrees below zero.

You can see that Patrick's early life was a struggle for survival coupled with hard and continuous work.

When his older sister, V. did not pass the first grade in the one room country school to which they attended, his mother said she had started at too young of an age. Because of this Patrick's mother held him back a year and let him start school at age 7. Patrick started to learn by himself from the material his older sister M., would bring home from school, and learned quickly by himself even before he was allowed to start school.

He was a brilliant student, and knew all the first grade material even before starting school.

All life was not easy even then for he had to walk a mile to school--rain, snow, cold or hot, it did not matter. Plus that, he had to get up early to help with chores before school. He had to carry his lunch bucket with him. Always it was a peanut butter sandwich and a maybe a apple along with some milk, When I say milk it would be like skim milk as every ounce of cream was removed in order to sell to help with the cost of the farm.

(I will intersect here moment. I have tasted that milk and it was the worse stuff I ever drank. All of our children felt the same. All I could say was Yuk!)

Well this is a start. There are several memorable experience that Patrick told me that shall be added as each day passes. He always remembered the cry-baby.,,,,,

That's all for now.......

Anne

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